Ring of Love
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: The secrets of Prue's Werewolf boyfriend, Brendan, all come to a head when the hospital's staff, patients, and visitors, including one Piper Halliwell, are taken prisoner by evil Werewolves.  The latest in the BrendanPrue romance saga!
1. Prologue

Title: "Ring of Love"  
>Author: Pirate Turner<br>Dedicated To: My beloved Jack and my beloved Mother who holds Brendan/Prue as a favorite pairing  
>Rating: R for nudity and violence<br>Summary: Brendan's secrets all come to a head when the hospital's staff, patients, and visitors, including one Piper Halliwell, are taken prisoner by evil Werewolves.  
>Warnings: Het, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Unconventional Pairings, Established Relationships, Crossover Cameo<br>Word Count: 20,225  
>Dates Written: 25 April - 18 May, 2011<br>Timeline: Takes place after the author's "A Blessing or a Curse?", "The Day After", "Howling From A Distance", "Unsaveable", "Howling Hopes For The Future", and "True Love's Power"  
>Disclaimer: Prue, Piper, and Phoebe Halliwell, Cole Turner, Leo Wyatt, Kit, Andy Trudeau, Darryl Morris, The Power of Three, The Charmed Ones, White Lighter, and Charmed are &amp; TM Spelling Entertainment and any other respective owners, none of whom are the author, and are used without permission. Brendan Richards, Brendan's family, Doctor Ola LaBelle, Kyna Chan, and Felicia are &amp; TM Pirate Turner and may not be used without permission. Mick, Josef, and any other recognizable characters not listed above are &amp; TM their respective owners, none of whom are the author and are used without permission. Everything else is &amp; TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.<p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Her life was not supposed to be this way. Her world should not be so fraught with dangers and Demons that she could not even visit a sick friend in the hospital without fear of being attacked, and yet here she was, roped in with all the humans in the hospital and pushed together like cattle before a pack of hungry and angry Werewolves. She gazed steadily at them from unblinking, brown eyes, her mind going in circles over the situation as she tried to bat down her emotions.

Now was not the time to think about the whys and the why nots. It was not the place to consider all that she would like to change about her life or how unfair it was that she should feel hunted with her every move. Now was the time to put her own thoughts and feelings to the side, figure out what the enemy wanted and how to get rid of them, and protect whatever, or whoever, they were after and get rid of their foul and smelly hides.

Piper watched as another Werewolf slowly made her way down the line of humans in which she huddled. She could easily tell the beast was female for they were all naked and the males had massive, shaggy members hanging down betweenst their legs. Even animals had more self respect than these mongrel beasts, Piper thought, reflecting on how many times she'd seen Kit hide his privates with his furry, chocolate tail.

The creatures before her were neither human nor animal, Piper thought. They were less than any other species she knew save Demons, but they were also a might with which to be reckoned strongly. They had taken her and the others here by complete surprise. They had charged the hospital after cutting the electrical and phone lines outside and had taken them all, healthy and injured, rich and poor, staff, patient, and visitor, alike. Not a single one of them had escaped, and when one poor man had hesitated, trying to grab his walker so that he could at least walk on his own power, one of the Werewolves had struck him down.

A man Piper did not know had yelled at the beast and tried to defend the man who was so sick that he was breathing through oxygen when the Werewolf had simply turned on him and slashed into him, as well. Piper forced down the bile rising in her throat. She had seen the man's blood spatter and knew him to be dead. Several of the others who had been closer to the doctor than she still wore his blood. The elderly man had not risen again, and Piper feared the worst for him as well.

She trembled inside as the prowling Werewolf stopped in front of her and her friend and gazed at them through yellow, hungry eyes. She would never hear the song Hungry Like the Wolf and think of it the same again. These monsters were hungry and would gladly eat every one of them. She'd even heard some of the smaller Werewolves asking the larger ones for permission for a nibble, but so far, they had been denied every time. The Werewolves were waiting for something, some one, actually, Piper felt sure from their conversations, which they did not try to hide for they felt themselves wholly untouchable, and until they found that person, no one was to be eaten. Afterwards . . . , she swallowed hard. Afterwards, if she did not find a way out of this mess and a way to save the innocents around her, they were all food!

She should be on her feet, she thought and tried to push up only to have her friend latch on to her. "Piper!" Felicia hissed. "What are you doing? Stay down! We don't want to bring any more attention from those things than what we already have!"

"Somebody has to do something," Piper argued softly. Though she was touched by the concern reflecting in Felicia's big, green eyes, Piper knew it was her duty to stop these monsters. And yet, she thought, looking at the savage pack again, there were so many. She could not possibly explode more than two at a time, and when an attack was made on them, they would lash out at every one around them. She could not risk having more innocents killed.

She could try freezing them, but the freezing would only last for a short time at best. She could not take them all out during that time, nor could she freeze them and unfreeze the humans to get them away without exposing herself. She was caught between a rock and a hard place, knew not which way to turn, and yearned for her sisters to be there. Prue would know what to do, Piper knew, as would Cole, but here she was alone, the sole person in a fearful and panicked group of innocents who could not stand a chance of fighting these monsters, and all she could do at best was to take a few out before they ripped apart every one around her.

"Then let the cops do it," Felicia told her. "It's, like, their job, isn't it?"

It should have been the cops' job to protect them, Piper knew, but it wasn't, not when it came to the Supernatural. She'd heard sirens earlier and had watched helplessly as two Werewolves had gone out of the cafeteria, and though the Werewolves had returned, one still licking blood from its long, yellow claws, Piper had not heard another sound or sign of the cops since then. That was two more humans down, Piper thought mournfully, and many more would join if she did not find a way out of this mess for them all. They needed help, and they needed more help than she alone could possibly give them.

A few months ago, she would not have hesitated to call Leo, but yet today she had. Running to her ex-husband was no longer Piper's first thought of defense beyond her powers, but she could not put it off any longer. She needed help, and so she bowed her head and began to whisper, "Leo. Leo!"

"What are you doing?" Felicia asked. "Praying for help?"

"Sort of," Piper answered, casting her friend a sideways glance.

Felicia made a face. "God doesn't have anything to do with things like those," she said, looking fearfully to where the Werewolf was again prowling down before them.

She thought she was praying to a Christian God, Piper reflected and immediately changed her thought. She didn't need Leo for this. Angel Boy wouldn't begin to know how to free them all of this vicious pack of Werewolves. She needed far more than Leo, as she always had. She needed her truly beloved Cole. "Cole," she whispered and knew, in her heart, that he'd hear her and come. He might not be able to orb, but he could shimmer. He'd hear her. He'd come, and he'd save them all.

She felt Felicia grasp her hand and cast a glance at her friend, who waitressed at her club. Felicia's other hand was grasping a cross she wore, and Piper bit back the urge to roll her eyes. She'd once been that strong in her belief when she herself had been a Christian, but she hadn't been a Christian for years now. She knew the truths of the world, and her new beliefs were even stronger than her old Christian views had been. Still she did not hold Felicia's Christianity against her. Let the woman pray to her God; they could use any help they could get.

Piper closed her eyes again and resumed her own quiet pleas, "Cole. Cole, I need you!"

She heard sniffing, opened her eyes, and looked up. A Werewolf who was neither amongst the larger of his numbers or the smaller had his muzzle lifted into the air and was sniffing as though searching for something. His dark, scraggly fur was spotted and spliced with gray, and his back was more crooked than the other beasts'. Piper's heart stilled; her skin grew clammy. She knew before he opened his mouth what he was searching for or, rather, who, and she knew she was the one suddenly placed atop his agenda. "Witch," he growled, his silver fangs glistening with saliva and savage intent. "Witch, we know you're here, and we'll find you!"

Howls went up amongst the Werewolves. Piper's heart jumped into her throat and then lunged further, battering like mad inside her ears. They knew she was here, and clearly they wanted her, as had every bad guy she'd ever met since her sisters and herself had come into their powers. She knew already that they'd do whatever they had to to find her, including ripping apart any innocent they chose.

The Werewolves began walking down amongst them, and Piper's heart hammered her own death sentence. She had to find a way out, and she had to find it now! And yet she could not abandon the innocents Fate had placed into her care. "Cole," she begged in a whisper. "Cole, please hurry!" She closed her eyes tightly shut as the graying Werewolf stopped before her. "I love you!" She braced herself for the worst.

**To Be Continued . . . **


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

Her life was not supposed to be this way. Men were supposed to flock to her, not run from her, and yet the one man she wanted more than any other she'd ever met was still persisting in running away and hiding from her. Prue had thought that once she'd learned Brendan's secret and he had saved her life despite, and in a way through, being a Werewolf that the problems that had been keeping their relationship from growing would be over. She had been wrong for he had gone back to hiding very shortly thereafter.

She'd managed to get him out on a few dates, but then again, he'd stopped returning her calls. She had gone to his apartment only to find that he had moved. He was still working at the hospital, but though she came regularly with the sole purpose of finding him and demanding an explanation on her mind and in her heart, she had yet to be able to find him.

Something was wrong, dreadfully wrong, Prue knew, and she also knew that she could help him if only Brendan would let her. Yet she couldn't help him if she couldn't even find him and speak to him to learn what was wrong, and so she had started coming to the hospital every evening in search of him. She knew he worked mostly the day shift but sometimes went in on nights as well, as long as the full moon was not out, and so she came at the time of the evening when his regular shift would be getting off and his night shift, should he be working the nights, just beginning. She came every day, and yet still she'd not found him. He was working, she knew that much from the nurses whom she quizzed, but still somehow, no matter how long she waited for him, he managed to avoid her.

Prue was running late today, having picked up the pace at P3 when they'd gotten busy after Piper had left to visit their hospitalized waitress. The girl had just had a kidney stone removed and was being held over for observation, but though Prue and Phoebe knew Felicia would be fine, Piper, always the mother figure, worried for their friend. Prue froze when she saw the cop cars in front of the hospital. There were four cars with their sirens still flashing, and every one of them looked like they'd been through a major wreck.

Prue's blood chilled, and her heartbeat quickened as her mind immediately went to Brendan and then to her sister. Had either of them been here when whatever had happened had taken place, and what could have happened to the cars? Smoke seeped out of one of the engines, and all of their hoods were dented as though something extremely heavy had smacked down on top of them. Prue walked forward swiftly but carefully, her every instinct at full alert.

Cops were laying around the cars, some in front and others having just barely gotten out of their vehicles. Every one of them was down and covered with blood. Prue knelt beside the first few, checking their heartbeats only to find them already dead. She stifled the scream building inside of her. The situation reeked of the Supernatural, and whatever had done this was a major force with which to be reckoned. She went around the cars, her green eyes flitting constantly across the scene, and almost lost it when she found the tattered remains of bones and uniforms in front of the cars. Whatever was here had not only killed all of these cops but had eaten at least two!

Prue fell back against the hood of the nearest police car, frantically covering her open mouth with her hands. She couldn't remember a time when she'd been around more blood and destruction, despite having saved the world more times than she could count. Something truly horrific was happening inside of the hospital, and Piper and Brendan might still be inside! She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and quickly dialed her sister's number, but there was no answer. Prue knew Piper would have turned her cell off when she'd gone into the hospital, and the simple fact that it was still off told her she was still inside!

"Gods!" Prue breathed, her heartbeat thundering and her hands shaking as she put her cell phone up. Whatever had done this might be on her sister now; it might even have her beloved Brendan beneath it! The radios inside the squadron cars crackled, and the dispatcher said that backup was on the way as they'd not had a response from the units. Prue knew that mortal help would do them no good but only add to the death count created by whatever was inside the hospital, attacking the patients and staff, attacking her sister, attacking the man she loved . . . "LEO!" she shouted. "WE NEED HELP!" And then, without waiting for even a scant second, she charged into the hospital.

He had known the moment his love had set foot onto the hospital grounds, but he'd managed not to give the knowledge away as he'd continued to be dragged down the aisle by his captor. His tail was tucked between his legs, and Brendan's head hung down the lowest it had in years. He should have known he couldn't hide from the pack. He had known they'd come, in truth. He'd told Kyna that, but she had insisted that they believed him dead and his yearning to live some kind of life, to do some little good to make up for all the evil his kind had done, had gotten the better of him and made him a fool.

The realization of the danger his mere presence put everybody in had come rocketing home to him when he'd fallen head over tail in love with the most beautiful, wonderful woman he'd ever had the honor of knowing. Every time he caught her delicious scent, the wolf inside of him howled with need, and Brendan had remembered the harsh fact of his reality that he could be with no one without putting their very lives in danger. He had hidden from her for months, skirting around any potential close interaction with his lady love, in his determination to keep her safe, and then he had been forced to use his Werewolf abilities in order to find and save her from the spell that had put her and her sisters into an enchanted slumber.

For a short, wonderful time thereafter, Brendan had actually thought that he might be able to live a normal life at long last. Well, okay, not normal, he admitted, his brown, shaggy ears twitching, but at least normalish. At least he could love the woman of his dreams, the only woman who had ever managed to squeeze pass his every guard and fully explode into his well, but clearly not well enough, protected heart. He had gone out with her, and those nights and days they had been together had been the best times of his otherwise miserable life.

And then Brendan had awakened one morning to the skeleton of a goldfish on his window sill. He had known instantly what that had meant, and he had packed up and left his tiny apartment, and the only woman who he would ever love, behind. He hadn't gone far enough. He should have left the hospital. He should have left the town, but he had stayed, putting in his resignation and trying to work out a notice until the overrun hospital could get in a new doctor. The patients whom he cared for had further talked him into staying, and he'd extended his resignation with the pleased permission of the hospital hierarchy.

He had been a fool, and now people were dying because of him. The humans would be slaughtered, and there wasn't anything he could do. Even now, stumbling behind the Werewolf who yanked him forward, his hands bound in silver chains, Brendan knew that his submission would do little good to save the people whom he had been foolish enough to consider his friends, even if none of them had really known him. To make matters a million times worse, Prue was now at the hospital. He could hear her calling his name, and he whimpered inside, barely able to contain the sound from hitting his cracked and bleeding lips.

He ached to be able to warn her. He yearned still for what he knew he could never have. He should be able to love her openly with all the love that consumed his heart, soul, and very being for her alone, but yet he knew to do so would bring her death. If he didn't kill her, they would.

{Prue,} he thought, {Gods, please just run, love! Run away and never stop!} But even as he prayed to a God who had never listened to his cries, he knew she would not. Prue's bravery knew no ends, and she would stand and fight against any monster who intended to take the life of an innocent even if it would mean giving her own life to protect that innocent. {Just run,} he thought, and then his whimpering escaped him as his captor stopped.

She turned to look at him, her yellow eyes glistening with feral anguish and hatred. She sniffed the air, and her ears perked forward as she listened to the pounding of his heartbeat. "How sweet," she snarled, saliva dripping from her jowls. "You're in love with the little Witch bitch."

Brendan opened his mouth to deny the fact, but his pitiful lie was drowned out in the beast's howl. He shivered inside and dropped his head. She was calling to the pack. Soon his beloved Prue would be no more, and it was all his fault! Brendan fell to his knees, and his captor laughed as his howl of heartache and misery echoed through the hospital corridors.

Prue stopped dead in her tracks, her beautiful head lifting as she heard her love's howl. Brendan was in pain! She turned and ran for the sound of his howl, praying with all her heart that she would be in time to save him from whatever Demon was attacking and never once thinking that she was running straight into her own funeral . . .

**To Be Continued . . . **


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

"Pretty, little Witch," the leader of the pack crooned. His ugly, furry head cocked at an angle as his yellow eyes glared out at the gathered crowd of beings all of whom he considered to be his prey. "Sweet, little, foolish thing hiding amongst us, cowering with the stench of filth. You think you're hidden here, think you're waiting for your chance to either let your favorite humans escape or run away yourself." He unsheathed his claws, and they glowed in the dim setting of the hospital's emergency lights.

"It's a shame you Witches are always so foolishly optimistic. You have such power, and you waste it on the mortals. You should join with us, but I know you won't. You'll always reject the true strength of magick and huddle with your meat innocents instead of taking your rightful place in the thrones of power!" He smiled, and every one gathered shivered at the sight. "But you won't hide here."

He moved suddenly and slashed the face of the nearest human. The other Werewolves laughed as the nurse screamed. Blood splattered from her once lovely face, covering her white uniform with dripping, crimson red. Piper's hands balled into fists at the sight. She started to leap forward, but Felicia pulled her back. "Don't," she whispered. "I know you want to help, but we can't face this. Let that . . . that Witch he's talking about do something."

Piper stared at her friend in shock. She was the very self same Witch, the very being for whom the Werewolves were now hunting and the reason why the leader had cut the nurse, and yet she knew that she could not come forward and reveal herself here! There were far too many innocents who would recognize her here. If she came forward, everybody would soon know her secret, and it wouldn't take them long to figure out that she shared that secret with her sisters. She had to stay hidden . . . and yet she couldn't let innocents be hurt because of her! {Cole!} she thought frantically. {Leo! Where the Hell are you?}

The stricken nurse was on the floor now, her face buried against the cold, hard tile as she sobbed openly. The Werewolves' laughter grew louder at the sight until their leader held up his graying paw. "Silence," he barked. "This is no laughing matter, you fools! This Witch is a strong one, and we must find her!" He looked back to his gathered prey. "We must find you, and we will find you. Then I shall dine upon you, little Witch, and your power will be mine!"

He snarled, and Piper trembled inside. She had no doubt that he believed his words and would indeed eat her if he caught and beat her. Part of her wanted to freeze the Wolves and run, and yet she knew that she could not do that. She could not take the coward's way out. She had to find a way out of this mess, but not just for herself. She couldn't abandon Felicia or any of the others gathered here. She had to find a way to save them all, and she had to do it right here in front of everybody and without giving away her secret.

As her mind whirled, desperately searching to invent a plan that would save them all, Piper wondered why the Werewolves had not picked her out yet. She knew that her Witchly scent was different than the mortals, but yet they had not zeroed in on her scent. Was it because she'd been cooking for hours and had the scents of the herbs and foods she'd used intermingling with her own natural smell? Could it be because the scents of the sick humans around her overpowered her Witchly smell, making her scent just small enough that it could be smelled but not pin pointed? Piper didn't know, but she did know one thing. It wouldn't take the Werewolves long to find her, and she had to act fast.

Her big, brown eyes cast downward where once they would have looked up to the Heavens. {Hurry, Cole,} she urged silently. {Please hurry, love.} He would come. She knew he would come, but would he be in time?

She looked up as the pack leader again began moving. This time, he hooked his savage claws into a patient's face, and the patient screamed as he picked her up. He leaned in close, and she hushed immediately. Piper could see her trembles even from where she sat, and as the Werewolf sniffed her, the older woman's head fell back.

Piper squelched her panic. She wasn't dead, she knew; she had just fainted. She watched as the Werewolf tossed the woman back to the ground and moved on to the next captive and then the next, lifting and sniffing each in turn and steadily making his way to her. He would be upon her in seconds, Piper thought, setting her jaw and raising her hands in determination, and she had to be ready to do whatever she was going to do . . .

"I can hear your heart, you know," the female Werewolf taunted Brendan. She grinned at him, her fangs glistening with saliva. "You're really hooked on that little, Witch bitch. Tell you what, brother. I'll let you keep her heart, and then she'll always be with you."

Brendan growled, his yellow eyes flashing fiercely. "Don't hurt her!"

"Don't worry," his captor shot back at him. "I'll make it quick and relatively harmless. Then we'll dine on your little friend and bring you back to where you belong." Her long, bushy tail swished. "Brings back memories, doesn't it?" She grinned, and his stomach churned as he felt sick inside all over again.

Brendan dropped his eyes from his captor's. This situation did bring back memories, memories that he'd fought all his life to get pass and yet haunted him every step of every day and night. They were the reasons why he could not let Prue get close. They were the reasons why his life and soul were scarred beyond redemption and why he knew that he was not worth saving. He let her drag him through the hospital's corridors, feeling as helpless as the pup who had once been smacked around by his pack and knowing that he was every bit as helpless now as he had been then.

He did not look up again until she paused. "She's right around the corner!" the Werewolf hissed, her beastly, yellow eyes shining with excitement. "This is gonna be fun!" With a howl that echoed for miles around blasting from her feral lungs, the Werewolf sprang, but she didn't get the scream she was expecting.

**To Be Continued . . . **


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

Prue looked up at the howl that warned of her enemy's coming, and then her heart went cold and her blood turned to fire as the Werewolf jumped before her with her prey. She would have recognized the other Werewolf the shebeast held captive anywhere. He was her man, her love, and her heart cried out for him! "Brendan!" she cried, tears sparking in her green eyes at the sight of how he was being treated.

Brendan would not have had his heroic, wonderful lady love see him as he was now for anything in the world, but despite himself and the fear that filled him until he trembled inside like a leaf caught in a whirling hurricane, his heart still gave a little jump at the realization that she had recognized him. He was naked and shaggy in front of her. Some of his brown fur had been pulled out, and blood matted his body. His staff and tail hung limply between his legs, and he was held to the other Werewolf by heavy, silver chains.

Prue could see clearly how weak he was, and how easily defeated and controlled, but that was not of importance now, he told himself. Only one thing was. He had to find a way to save the woman he loved; he couldn't let these monsters take her as they'd always taken everything else about which he'd ever dared to care! "PRUE," he bellowed, "RUN!"

He turned swiftly, knocking into the legs of his captor. She stumbled but then sprang backwards, still holding his chains. "Nice try, pup," she bit out, "but all you did was change my mind. I'm going to take your little Witch apart, and I'm going to enjoy gnawing on every inch of her."

Prue shook her head, both icy determination and red-hot fury filling her every inch. She had always wondered why female dogs were called bitches; now she knew. "You're not going to touch me, and you're not going to do anything else to him, bitch!" She threw up her hands, her eyes squinting. Her telekinesis ripped the leash of the silver chains right out from the Werewolf's grip and sent her barreling back into the wall. The Werewolf howled again as she landed hard against the wall, and Prue raced to Brendan.

She threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly, as tears fell down her face. "Brendan!" she cried. "How bad are you hurt?"

His heart soared at her touch and concern. Gods, how he loved this woman! And yet, because he loved her, there was only one way to protect her, one way to keep her alive, especially now that his pack had found him again. "I'll be fine, Prue, but you've got to get out of here!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

"Prue, watch out!" Brendan cried as his sister sprang forward, her claws reaching out to snag his beloved from behind. He pushed her to the side and leaped into the air, meeting the other Werewolf, for the first time in his long, miserable life, claw for claw and tooth for tooth.

Brendan had pushed her so hard that Prue had fallen to the floor. She rolled onto her back and looked up at the battling Werewolves, her mouth hanging open as howls, blood, and fur filled the air. "Brendan!" she cried. He was too innocent, too sweet! She knew he'd be hurt for he would never be as savage and cruel as his opponent, but yet she couldn't get a clear shot at the female Werewolf.

She jumped to her feet, her hands raised to knock the fire out of the shebeast at the first interval she got, but then more howls split the air and shadows fell onto the corner where they battled. Prue turned slowly from the fight, not wanting to risk a second of not watching lest she miss her chance to help Brendan, and fear inched up her spine at what she saw. Werewolves were lumbering forward from all directions! She stood with her hands raised, knowing they needed help and yet her cry for help being frozen in her throat.

Brendan howled suddenly, and Prue whirled back around just in time to see him hit the floor. The Werewolf who had beaten him smiled as she leapt forward, and Prue slung her hand out, knocking the bitch back and throwing her into the next nearest Werewolf. She raced to Brendan's side where he lay unmoving, and her heart caught in her chest. He couldn't be dead! She prayed for a miracle to keep him alive and to save them both as she raced to him.

Reaching him, she knelt and threw her arms around him again. He was trembling, but the movement meant he still lived. Hope sprang into Prue's heart and soul. The man she loved still lived, and he needed her! She'd protect them herself. She'd take down every one of these monsters who were after them, who were bent on destroying her Brendan, on taking him out of her life. She'd finally found her soul mate in this wonderful, amazing man, who was the sweetest, kindest, and gentlest man she'd ever known despite the beast that lunged within him, and she wasn't going to let anybody take him away from her!

Savage howls ripped the air, and Prue turned, throwing out her hands and throwing the Werewolves back. "YOU'RE NOT TAKING HIM!" she yelled. "YOU'LL HAVE TO KILL ME FIRST!"

The hysterical laughter that met her ears unnerved her, but Prue stood her ground. She'd not let them frighten her. She would beat them. They would not take her love!

"Stand down, little Witch," the tallest Werewolf in the gathered pack spoke. "He belongs to us. We are his family, and we'll have him back."

The female by the lead male's side laughed, her eyes dancing with a vicious, fierce light of insanity that sent shivers of fear again curling down Prue's spine though she remained determined to ignore them. "You're not good enough for our son. He belongs to our pack, and not only are we going to take him back, but we're going to enjoy eating you!" She shook her head like a disappointed mother might as she added, "It's really a shame he persists in continuing to try to make friends." She glanced at her mate. "How many have we eaten now because he wouldn't stop trying to ignore what he is?"

"Clearly," the father spoke, "not enough."

A smaller Werewolf giggled. "We just eat more. Brendan'll learn. Can't be friends with humans." The small one's tail swished. "We Wolves stick together."

The mother sighed. "Why can he not have the sense his baby sister has?"

The father echoed her sigh. "I don't know, darling, but we'll make him accept reality."

"The reality," Prue snapped, her eyes flashing, "is that Brendan is a free man! You can't have him! You can't control him! I'm not going to let you! He's good, and he'll have the life he deserves!"

The Werewolves ceased talking amongst themselves and laughing. They glared at the obstinate Witch who put her nose where it did not belong, and then together, as one, they lunged. Prue slapped them back one at a time, hoping all the while that her sisters would somehow find her. She could keep them at bay for now, but she just didn't know how long it would last . . .

"Prue," Brendan moaned from behind her, "run! Save yourself!"

"No! I'm not going anywhere! I'm not leaving you! I love you, Brendan!"

Her words made his heart soar though also feeling him with fear. The Werewolves howled again and surged forward stronger and more fiercely than before. Prue turned in circles, knocking them back, until one at last slipped through her guard. Brendan howled and rolled to his feet as the Werewolf's claws slashed his lady. He charged his own mother, taking her down beneath him, and Prue stood, unable to help him as the others continued coming. She kept knocking them back even as Brendan fought his mother and prayed again for a miracle. Despite her bravado, she knew there were just too many. They couldn't take them all by themselves. They needed help.

"LEO!" she yelled, and yet she knew that the White Lighter couldn't do much against this many Werewolves. He could at least orb them out, but then Piper was still somewhere here at the hospital. Fear inched its way into Prue's valiant heart. Where was her sister? Was she still alive? Could they survive this encounter, or would she die never getting to hear Brendan return her words? She knew he loved her, but she ached to hear him say the words.

Claws sliced into Prue from behind, and she screamed as pain flared through her. Brendan looked up as she fell, and his mother pounced against him, pinning him to the floor and growling savagely. "Now," she commanded, "you'll get to watch us eat your little Witch love!"

"!" Brendan's howl of denial echoed through the hospital, but yet his mother kept him pinned, no matter how hard he fought against her or how many times he kicked and jabbed her . . . He bit her shoulder, and finally her grip on him lessened.

"Drop her," his father's cold, stern voice commanded. "Drop her, or I kill the Witch now."

Brendan looked to where Prue had fallen. She was raised into the air now, her feet kicking, but his father held her by her throat and his brother clenched her hands so tightly that Brendan could already hear her bones beginning to break.

He ceased his struggles, bowed his head, and tucked his tail. "Please," he begged, whimpering, as tears fell down his furry face. "Let her go," he begged. "Let her go, and I'll go with you and do anything you want. I'll never try to leave again. Just don't kill her!"

He begged, and he ached to say that he loved her with a burning passion flaring inside of him more strongly and passionately than anything he'd ever felt before. Yet he choked those three, mighty, little words down for he knew saying so would finish sealing his beloved Prue's death sentence. Tears fell like rain down his long face. "Please don't kill her!"

Prue's heart ached for Brendan, and fury filled her. She couldn't believe how his family treated him! There was no longer any wonder in her mind as to why he'd tried so hard to keep his distance from her. These monsters had haunted him every moment of his life, forcing him to be with them, to be one of them, but Brendan would always have far too good and valiant a soul and heart to ever truly be one of their merciless, evil numbers. They had killed every one he'd ever dared to care about and kept him under their control for Gods only knew how long.

And now, if she didn't do something, they'd take him again, control him once more, and make his life miserable. They'd force him to kill and be what he would never be, be one of their evil pack members. They'd destroy his heart and soul and yet keep him alive and miserable! "Brendan . . . " she tried to speak, but his father's paw closed more tightly against her throat, cutting off her air. Prue fought to stay conscious but was losing the battle. They needed a miracle! They needed each other for, without one another, their lives might as well be over!

"Please don't kill her," Brendan repeated again, shaking from the tip of his ears to the end of his bushy tail tucked between his legs.

"How sweet," Brendan's mother crooned. Then she looked her at mate. "Kill her," she barked with glee, and the Werewolves all around them laughed with the vicious, delight of their dark hearts. Brendan howled as his father continued tightening his hold on Prue's neck, and her eyes began to roll back into her head . . .

**To Be Continued . . . **


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

"Felicia!" Piper gasped as the Werewolves' leader lifted her friend by her neck, his razor-sharp, yellow claws closing around her tender, white throat. Felicia gasped, gave a startled half scream, and fell limp in the beast's grasp. The Werewolf shook her, but Felicia did not respond and her eyes remained closed.

"Weakling," the Werewolf snarled in disgust and dropped the blonde to the floor. "Whoever wants that one," he stated, his tail swishing, "can have her as soon as she wakes up. Let her sleep for now, though, for the victory will be made sweeter itself if you rip into her flesh while she is conscious."

Piper's brown eyes narrowed as she watched Felicia's body laying prone upon the cold, linoleum floor of the hospital. She could almost swear her friend was trembling. Maybe her fainting was an act? It was the second step of the basic self defense Piper taught her girls should P3 ever be robbed. Advise the robber that they had no access to the safe, only what was in the cash register itself, and direct him to her. She'd gladly take care of his puny butt, but if he tried to take them with him, they were to faint immediately. She smiled to herself, realizing that that was exactly what Felicia had done, but had no time to reflect or plan her next move as the Werewolf's claws grasped her own throat.

Piper gasped as the Werewolf lifted her to his ugly, wheezing face, but she did not struggle. She stared at him through open eyes that she hoped looked as innocent as she was trying to appear, but when he spoke, icy fingers of knowing dread crept across her valiant spine. "Now you," he said. "You have courage." He leaned closer, and she could feel his hot breath panting across her face, down her throat, and into her blouse's neckline. She found another reason to be thankful that she didn't wear as revealing clothes as her sisters right then and there.

But then his yellow eyes flashed, and Piper knew that she'd been had. "Don't you, little Witch?" he growled, his fangs baring. He snarled viciously at her, and the few Werewolves who remained in the room - many of them had rushed off after howls sounding from elsewhere in the hospital just a few minutes before - threw back their heads and howled. Their leader licked his chops. "You'll make a fine dinner," his eyes flashed again, and Piper could practically hear his gut rumbling in eager anticipation, "Charmed One."

His pointed, furry ears perked up. "But where are your sisters? We should make this a family occasion." His tail wagged.

"Go to Hell," Piper growled, her own brown eyes flashing in warning. She'd sooner give these innocents up than let these monsters have her sisters, but it was a choice she would not make. Her hands started to rise into the air, her power and anger throbbing within her, but then the doors were thrown open and a familiar voice bellowed.

"EVERYBODY, DOWN NOW!" Bullets ripped through the air. The Werewolves howled; their captors screamed and huddled on the floor. Piper smiled as a silver bullet exploded into the back of the Werewolf who'd held her and she was dropped to the floor. She sprang immediately back to her feet, looking at her fiance standing in the doorway, gripping a machine gun, slaughtering Werewolves left and right, and grinning broadly at her. Her heart surged with relief, happiness, joy, and pride. Cole had never looked more handsome than he did right now!

He winked at her and shot another Werewolf down, but claws grasped Piper from behind. "You just made a mistake," she told the beast for the humans were now all huddled upon the floor, their faces buried in their hair and hands. Not a one of them would be watching to see what was happening, and she was free again. She threw up her hands, and the Werewolf exploded, sending a million Werewolf parts splattering. She then hit the floor herself for Cole's silver bullets were still wheezing about as he worked steadily at taking apart the Werewolves who remained.

"I MISSED YOU!" he shouted to her over the roar of gunfire.

Piper grinned. "I MISSED YOU TOO!" she called back. "YOU SHOULD HAVE HURRIED UP!"

"I DID! I'LL EXPLAIN IN A MINUTE!" And a minute, Piper knew, was all it would take him to finish handing these monsters their death sentences. She stayed with her back on the floor but continued to throw up her hands, also taking out Werewolves herself and smiling from ear to ear.

She was so lucky to have Cole in her life and be loved by such a wonderful man and exciting Demon! I love you, she wanted to say, the words surging in her heart with a might more powerful than anything else she'd ever felt before, but for now, they could wait. For now. For just a little while. Then she'd throw her arms around her man, hold him close, and not only tell him but show him too just how infinitely much she loved and would always love him alone!

Brendan howled in misery, feeling as though his very heart was being torn from his muscular chest, as his beloved Prue's beautiful eyes rolled back into her head. She heard his voice as though from a distance, but his plaintive howl pulled her forward. Her hands were tied. That she was true; she couldn't budge them an inch. But she was far from beaten, and her man needed her.

The Werewolves had been laughing, but the one who held her yipped in surprise, hushing the vicious laughter cold and dead in its tracks, as Prue's head suddenly lifted. She looked at him, a dangerous smile curving her pretty, red lips. "I take a lot of crap off of you monsters," she wanted to say, "but you screwed up when you decided to mess with my man! Nobody messes with my love and gets away with it!" Her words were silenced by his paw still clenching her throat, but her eyes were still very much active and completely free.

Using her telekinesis, she reached out before he could stop her, grasped his ears and tail, and pulled with all her might. She pushed him back as he howled, forcing his mangy hands off of her, and the moment she was free, she sent his body hurtling into five others of his pack. Then she whirled to face where the beast's mate had her own soul mate down beneath her, her claws pressing his face into the floor. Brendan's brown eyes met hers, and in those deep, rich orbs, Prue saw the love he felt for her, the love she shared for him, and the hope that her actions were giving him.

"Let go of him, bitch!" she snarled. She felt another Werewolf charging from her left, slung out her hand, and shot him back into his pack mates. She walked forward, but when the shebeast slammed Brendan's head down into the floor again and growled at her, Prue's eyes narrowed. Raising her hands and keeping her eyes lifting with the slow rise of the bitch's body, she started to rise the Werewolf off of her man, but the shebeast kept her claws buried in Brendan's shoulders and head. "Let him go," Prue commanded again, shaking her head slowly in warning.

"You'll not take my son over to your puny ways!" the Werewolf screeched. Her words sent cold shivers sliding down Prue's body and filled her heart with sorrow for the man she loved. If this was his mother, there was no wonder that Brendan was so scared to love her, so frightened that he could never escape his pack! The shebeast spit at Prue, and as her salvia slapped the hall floor right in front of Prue's high-heeled boots, the eldest Halliwell snapped out of her compassionate thoughts and narrowed her gaze on Brendan's mother.

This was the woman who had scarred her lover forever. This was the monster who kept him so terrified and full of self-hatred that he thought he had no right to love her and forced himself to stay away from her out of fear that he'd hurt her! This was the bitch that stood between her ever getting to be happy and live long and happily together with her love! "You don't have the right to be called a mother, bitch!" Prue snarled.

She felt movement from behind her, threw her hands again, and sent the other Werewolves flying away from her once more. Then she narrowed her gaze in on Brendan's mother, rose her hands, and clenched her fingers. The Werewolf howled as she felt a strange tightening of her claws. Then, when Prue straightened out her own fingers, splaying her hands wide open, the Werewolf's yellowed claws shattered into a million pieces. She howled with pain and misery, blood oozing from the holes in the ends of her furry fingers, and her son was freed at last. Prue rushed to Brendan's side as she threw the howling bitch back into her family.

**To Be Continued . . . **


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

Prue dropped to her knees beside the man she loved and gently turned him over. She brushed his long, brown bangs out of his handsome face and asked softly in deep concern, "Are you all right?" Her fingers trailed over his bruised and bleeding lips. Somewhere during the fight, he'd started shifting back into his human form, and the face she was now gazing down into would have been a nightmare to almost any other woman alive. Part of his face was still covered with thick, brown fur and contorted with the Werewolf's features while the other half remained the man she knew and loved. She cupped his smiling face in her hands and stroked his fur and skin alike.

He was smiling in awe of what she had done, but as he heard the other Werewolves beginning to growl and snarl again as they crept closer, he caught her wrists in his gentle hands and met her eyes with his own fearful orbs. "I'll be fine," he promised her, "but you'd better go. You got lucky that time, love, but it won't happen again. They'll eat you!"

She could feel his trembling but barely heard his words after he called her his love. "I love you too!" she told him and stole a quick kiss from his quivering lips before releasing him and standing. "And I won't let them have you! You're safe now, Brendan. You're with me, and together we're going to beat this! They won't have you ever again!" She tossed him a teasing grin and winked down at him. "You're mine, and I'm selfish." She shrugged her lithe shoulders. "I love you, and I'm not going to share you with your family."

She turned her back to him then as she felt the pounding of the Werewolves' feet against the floor. She threw up her hands, lifted her gaze, and tossed them back as though they weighed nothing. Others of their number kept coming, and Prue steadily continued tossing the pack away. She knew she should be feeling tired by now, but she wasn't. Brendan loved her; he'd finally told her so, even though she now knew his secrets! She loved him, and she had never felt more alive than she did in this very moment, basking in their endless love! She'd take these Werewolves down and whatever else Fate threw at them! They'd beat it all together, and in the end, they'd stand together and love each other forever! Savage howls lifted into the air as the Werewolves continued to charge her, but Prue just kept smiling and slamming them back again and again . . .

Brendan gave a soft grunt from where he lay on the floor behind her. This beautiful, exciting, and charming woman enthralled and amazed him. He'd never known any one like her, but yet he feared for her safety as his tail tucked between his legs. She couldn't just keep pushing his family back. They'd take her eventually, and when they did, he'd be powerless to stop them. "Please, Prue," he whimpered, "run while you still can!" but either she didn't hear him or she just chose to ignore him. She wasn't going anywhere, he knew, and whereas her loyalty touched him and her love gave his frightened heart wings, he feared for her with every inch of his being.

He thought only once of turning back to his Werewolf form so that he could help her fight, but then he pushed the thought away. Blood was rising in the air, and eventually, should he wolf, the rich, sweet scent would get the better of him. His monster would unleash, and then his beloved, wonderful Prue would not only be endangered by his family but himself as well. He'd rather stay helpless, unable to fight, than ever risk harming the woman he loved.

He rose to his feet behind her but stood uncertain, unsure, and fearful. He didn't know how to help her; he didn't think he could. And yet he'd never run again from the woman he loved when she needed him. "Please, Prue," he tried again, touching her shoulder. "Please run while you can. They'll overpower you." Tears sparkled in his worried, brown eyes. "They'll eat you!"

"No, they won't," Prue declared strongly, "and they'll never take you again or make you eat any one else!"

"I never - " Brendan whimpered in surprised self defense. Had he still been in possession of them, his ears and tail would have drooped, but for now, at least, he was in his completed human form. "I did eat my goldfish," he said sadly, his face downcast. "I never should have tried to have a pet. But I've never eaten a human, and I'm not about to start!"

"Good," Prue said proudly. "Now tell them that." She threw out her hands and knocked the howling Wolves back. She'd never felt more alive. She'd never been more in love than she was with this incredible, amazing man who stood, naked and fearful for her life, beside her. But she was slowly beginning to tire and realized now that they needed a stronger force than her telepathy but had none to offer.

{Leo,} she screamed inwardly, {where are you?} She needed help, and she needed it fast! Yet this was one fight that she would absolutely not back down from, no matter what happened. If the monsters that called themselves his family wanted Brendan, they'd have to go through her to get to him, and the only way that was going to happen was if they killed her!

"Prue, please!" Brendan whimpered, seeing the toll that the battle was starting to take on the woman he loved. "Please run while you still can! I love you, and I don't want anything to hurt you or - or - or - " His voice rose off and then fell into a tiny squeak. He couldn't bare to say the words, but the tears running down his face made his thoughts plain.

"They're not going to win, Brendan. They're not going to take either of us, and they're never going to hurt you again! I promise. I love you!" She walked forward, throwing out her hands again. This time, a few of the Werewolves who hit the wall did not rise again, and Prue's smile grew, her eyes sparkling. She could do this. She had to do this! She would save the man she loved, or she wasn't a Charmed One!

"For Brendan!" she cried defiantly. "You'll never hurt him again!" The Werewolves howled as she tossed them back together into the wall. With each new toss, more fell. Prue's love surged, filling her heart and soul and giving her more strength than she'd ever felt before. They would win this fight! They would win the war, and they would be together! "I love you, Brendan!" she called, but then his howling, vicious mother slipped through her grasp as she pushed the others back again.

Brendan howled, seeing his mother charging the woman he loved, her teeth gnashing at air that would soon be his beloved Prue's beautiful, sweet face. He leapt into the air and dove at her, changing swiftly as he did so. He knocked her down and slashed her face as Prue continued to keep the rest of his family back. "YOU'LL NOT HURT HER!" he howled. And then, where all his family could hear him, Brendan made the greatest admission of his life. "I LOVE HER!"

Prue smiled, her eyes dancing with delighted pride, as she watched the man she loved tear into his own bitch of a mother. They'd win this together, she knew, and then nothing would ever again stand in their way of being together! "AND I LOVE HIM," she yelled, "AND I'M NOT GOING TO LET YOU HAVE HIM EVER AGAIN!" She threw the angrily howling Werewolves back into the wall again, this time with even more force than before, but though many of them stayed unconscious this time, others still kept coming.

Prue's telekinesis met them immediately. She was tired, but her exhaustion didn't matter. These monsters were the last things standing between her beloved Brendan and her being together, and they would defeat them and, once freed by them, love each other forever. Prue smiled despite her tiredness. She'd never been more sure of an outcome before in all of her life.

They would defeat these Werewolves for they had the power of Love on their side, and once they were gone out of Brendan's life forever, he'd be free to be with her! They'd be together! They loved each other! And that, Prue thought, her eyes and face shining joyously with the all-encompassing love that filled her, was all that mattered! They would beat Brendan's pack into submission, chase away his Demons, and then they would be free to love one another forever!

**To Be Continued . . . **


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

A mortal scream pierced through the sounds of blazing bullets and howling Werewolves, and Piper whirled around to see that one of the Werewolves had snatched a woman from the floor and was lifting her toward the spray of silver bullets Cole was sending exploding into his pack mates. "NO!" Piper yelled, but Cole didn't have time to stop the next bullet from sailing out of his machine gun. She threw up her hands, exploding the Werewolf. As his body fell apart and drifted back down to the floor in gruesome, bloody pieces, the girl was dropped. The silver bullet sailed harmlessly over her head and into the next Were.

Cole ceased shooting. He had taken out most of the Werewolves, but still a few remained, a few who were growing wise to the way to stop him. He had no qualms with slaughtering their mangy hides, but he would not harm an innocent. Each of the Werewolves snatched their nearest prisoner off of the floor, their yellowed claws gleaming as they snagged the mortals by their hair and tender flesh. Cole's eyes narrowed, turning black in warning, but Piper leapt up behind them. She could hear howls reverberating from somewhere toward the hospital's front and heard her sister scream out her boyfriend's name. Prue and Brendan were in trouble, and she'd not stand here a moment longer and let these evil, heartless Werewolves cause any more harm!

The humans were struggling against the beasts who held them, but their efforts were in vain. They could no sooner free themselves from the Werewolves than they could move a mountain, though they tried with all their might, hitting and kicking. Some struck home and actually made their captors fold over with pain as their feet hit them in their unprotected groins, but still the Wolves held on to them, snarling, snapping, and refusing to let them go. "It'll be a pleasure to eat you, bitch," one of them snarled at a dark-haired woman. She tried again to break free, but he held her fast until she bit down on the very hand that clutched her. He howled with pain. "I'll rip you apart!"

"Don't," Cole offered, coming forward with his hands raised in the air and his gun left behind him on the hard, linoleum floor. "Rip me apart instead." His face was serious, and yet Piper could tell that he was barely holding back his grin for he knew what was coming.

The Werewolf paused, his glistening, silver fangs a mere inch from the girl's neck, as he studied Cole inquisitively. He sniffed. "Demon," he remarked. "Why are you helping these pathetic meals?"

Cole allowed his grin to burst across his handsome face as his woman struck the Werewolves from behind, raising her hands and exploding them in a succession so rapid that they had no time to react. The Werewolf who had spoken to him was the last to go and barely heard his answer as Cole replied, beaming proudly, "That's why."

The mortals screamed again as they were dropped onto the floor and bits and pieces of Werewolf hearts, intestines, brains, fur, and other parts splattered all around and over them. They were covered with the beasts' blood, and they shivered like the pack of frightened animals they had become. "You got here just in time," Piper remarked as she walked to Cole, her face still slightly paled from the terror of the evening.

"You did good," he told her, stepping forward and opening his arms.

"Did I?" Piper queried, her mouth lifting slightly into the beginnings of a smile.

"Yes," he affirmed as she went into his arms. He held her tight, his chin touching lightly the top of her head. He squeezed her hard and yet not so hard as to harm her. He had been worried about her, so scared that they would catch on and hurt her before he could stop them. Although not all of them were bad, Werewolves, as a general species, were vicious, cruel, and extremely quick. He knew they had been lucky, but then he'd already known he was blessed. He was blessed to have this remarkable woman who he loved with all his heart, soul, and being love him back in return. He tilted his head, and his lips brushed across the top of Piper's head.

She closed her eyes as she inhaled his deep, sweet aroma. There was just a tinge of brimstone, and she knew that his work in Hell had been what had kept him from getting to her faster. Still he had come for her in time, just as she'd known he would, and they were safe again now . . . although for how long they could never tell. It didn't matter, not really. She didn't mind living a life where almost her every moment was filled with danger as long as she got to live it with him. She tingled as he kissed the top of her head. "I love you!" she said, looking up at him and leaning on her tip toes to reach his waiting mouth.

"I love you too!" he murmured reassuringly before kissing her sweetly.

They had barely began to kiss when they heard the tell-tale sounds of twinkling lights and more howls raising from elsewhere in the hospital. They peeled reluctantly apart, Piper looking in one direction, toward the howls, and Cole in the other. "Prue," she commented worriedly.

"It's about time you got here," Cole remarked, watching Phoebe step out of Leo's arms.

Phoebe wiped a stray piece of cloud from her brown hair and grinned at Cole. "Jealous?" she teased, meaning no harm.

"Never," he said honestly. "I've got everything I could ever want right here in my arms."

Leo cleared his throat. "What did we miss?"

"Werewolves." Cole grinned inwardly at the way the White Lighter's eyes widened fearfully at that single word.

"Cole!" a feminine voice with a French accent exclaimed from behind them, and all four members of the Halliwell family turned to look toward the sound. Piper raised her eyebrows at the beautiful woman standing behind her fiance. The tall brunette was gasping for breath, her heavy-set bosom heaving to fill her lungs with the oxygen she so sorely needed, and her face was pale. "Please," she said, "hurry. Brendan and Prue are fighting ze rest o' ze pack, but zey will not survive long without help."

Cole nodded. "I'm on my way, Ola."

He took Piper's hand in his and ran down the hallway, leaving the others to help the mortals they had rescued. Phoebe turned to Leo in their wake. "Who's she?" she asked.

"Doctor Ola LaBelle," Leo told his girlfriend. "She's a good lady."

"I am a friend," Ola paused to gasp another breath, "of Brendan's. I was with Cole when he was called. We have been working on a special project to help your sister's boyfriend, but your family needs you now. Go and help them." Her blue eyes drifted to the humans who were just beginning to cautiously get up off of the floor and look fearfully around them. "I will help here."

Leo pulled Phoebe back to him and orbed them quickly to where he sensed Prue, hoping that they would be in time to help the eldest Halliwell and her love and wondering over Ola and Cole's special project. He knew that Ola's lifelong work was to find a cure for Weres and help all Supernatural beings she could overcome their evil instincts. Dare he hope, he wondered, that she and Cole were about to hit upon the answer that had been sought for millennia? Could there be a way to save Brendan from what he was and would eventually succumb to without help? For Prue's sake, Leo thought as they arrived at the battle scene, he hoped so.

**To Be Continued . . . **


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

"!" the smallest Werewolf of the lot shouted as Prue slammed him back yet again against the wall. He slumped to the floor this time and did not rise again, but already there were more howls picking up all around them. The Werewolves had grown wise to the telekinetic Witch's assault, and now they raced through the hallway, each taking a different route.

Prue whirled around, turning constantly to try, unsuccessfully, to face all of her enemies at once. Her hands and eyes raised, she began slamming them back once more, but still others came charging, their mouths agape with their vicious howls and snarls and blood and saliva dripping from their fangs. She ached to get a glance at Brendan, to make sure that he was handling his mother all right and that she wasn't gaining the upper paw and preparing to kill him, but she had no time to do so and barely enough time to defend herself.

Brendan's mother howled furiously from where she now sat on top of him, slamming her hairy fists down into his lupine face. Brendan's face crunched beneath her battering paws, but he did not try to fight her, only to hold her back from going after his beloved Prue. She was his mother, and whereas he would take her beatings as he always had, he would not let her harm the woman he loved.

She cursed him for every slimy thing he'd ever known, and for a hundred more he'd not even heard of before. She berated him for every good and foolish thing he'd ever done, and to her, any good thing, especially trying to live a life as a good man and as innocent as possible, was the greatest foolishery ever. He was a Werewolf, she told him yet again, and his behavior was a disgrace to his people. He had come from her loins, and yet he was nowhere near worthy of bearing the Richards name.

He whimpered beneath her fists and claws flaying his fur and blood, but dared not argue with her. A lifetime of experience had taught him that arguing with his mother only made her angrier until she lashed out at everything, and one, she could reach. Then his brother's scream pierced the air, and her head snapped up, her yellowed eyes narrowing with venomous hatred. "I'm going to kill that bitch Witch of yours!" she snarled. "She's hurt your brother, and for that, I'll rip her limb from limb and gnaw her flesh slowly while yet she breathes!"

"NO!" Brendan roared. Twisting beneath her, his hands shooting up, he grasped her arms, rolled over, and forced her beneath him. His head snapped back as her head slammed into his throat. "NO!" he cried again. "I WON'T LET YOU HARM HER!" His bushy tail shook with the violent rages trembling through his darkened soul.

"Even now, Brendan?" his mother snarled, her eyes flashing. "Even now, after she's harmed your brother, who actually is a good Werewolf and makes me proud, you would protect that rotten, stinking Witch?"

"YES!" Brendan declared, his own eyes flashing. "I LOVE HER!"

"THEN YOU SHALL DIE WITH HER, BUT FIRST YOU'LL WATCH HER DIE!" She threw him off of her and raced through the pack of Werewolves, her bursting howl causing them to break to the sides.

It was then that Cole and Piper arrived. Cole slung two energy balls into the frenzied pack, while Piper tossed up her hands and exploded the nearest Werewolves. Prue slung another Werewolf off of her, then looked up, her eyes wide and round with fear, as she heard a howl descending right on top of her. "PRUE!" Phoebe yelled as she and Leo entered the scene. She had no time to help her sister, however, as a trio of Werewolves turned onto the White Lighter and Witch.

Phoebe ran bravely forward, leapt into the air, and kicked at the nearest beast, but she caught her foot, grinned, and then twisted it. Phoebe screamed as her bone jutted out of her foot. Saliva dripped down the hungry Werewolf's jowls, and her eyes and grin made it clear that she was laughing as she dragged the youngest Halliwell closer to her. Leo rushed to defend Phoebe, leaving the other sisters to continue the battle.

Piper and Cole had looked to Prue when Phoebe had screamed her name. Cole was forming an energy ball while Piper kept tossing her hands up, exploding every Werewolf around them and yet still not managing to lock onto the head shebeast. All this had happened in but a heartbeat while Prue stood, in shock, the Werewolf's still bleeding fingers, where her claws had been until Prue had shattered them, right before her frightened eyes.

Brendan charged his mother again, and this time, he grabbed her by his fangs sinking into her furry neck. He slammed her to the floor, and his front paws stepped onto her weakening shoulders. Blood jutted out into his mouth. She raised strangely calm eyes to look up at him, and even in his full Werewolf mode, Brendan's heart and soul twisted sickeningly as she spoke to him. "Thatta boy. Make me proud. Show them what you're capable of. Rip . . . my . . . throat . . . out."

He spat her out, but it was too late. The damage had been done. Blood poured from his mother's jugular, and Brendan lifted his head and howled. His howl seemed to at last stop the fighting as every being there stood and looked at him.

"BRENDAN!" Prue cried, tears streaming down her face as she realized what had happened, what he had done to save her. She started forward, but he ran from her. The other Werewolves closed in all around Prue and her family, their howls a mixture of hatred, rage, and sorrow.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO FIGHT ANY MORE!" Leo told the grieving Werewolves as he cradled Phoebe in his arms. "TAKE YOUR FALLEN ONES AND LEAVE US!"

"NEVER!" the small one proclaimed, hobbling forward and dragging his tail and right foot across the floor as he headed toward the White Lighter. "You took our brother from us and killed our mother! Now you shall pay with your own blood!" The other Werewolves looked to the smallest member of their pack, but when he howled out, "TAKE THEM!", not a single one of them hesitated. They turned instead, snarling, yipping, howling, and scratching the empty air around them, to attack the Charmed Ones and their men even more viciously.

Yet, as Leo had been talking, Cole had been working. Between the Demon's expertly skilled hands glowed the biggest energy ball that any one there, including himself, had ever seen. Piper threw her hands up again, exploding a few more Werewolves and buying her love the time he needed to better balance his ball. Then, with a grin, he threw it into the pack of Werewolves, and they howled as they exploded.

Prue stared through her tears and the Werewolf blood, guts, brains, and body parts raining down to the floor as she searched for Brendan. She found him cowering against the wall, caught once more between wolf and man. His ears were still long and furry. A thin, brown coat of fur covered his otherwise naked body, and his bushy tail drooped between his legs. Other than that, his form was again that of the man she had started falling in love with the very first moment she had met him.

"Brendan!" she called, but he gave no sign of hearing her. He kept his head down, buried in his hands, and she watched in great concern as he trembled like a leaf caught up in the gales of a rampaging hurricane. The clicking of her high heels as she walked toward him echoed in the suddenly quiet hallway. "Brendan?" she called again but still received no sign that he'd heard her. She had been terrified earlier, but now she was filled with every bit as much sorrow as the fear that had caught her.

Part of her couldn't believe that he had killed his own mother to save her life, and yet, somewhere deep within her, there was a small part that was glad. She had learned today why he was so terrified that he would hurt her. She knew he had been abused every day of his life by his family, and now those abusers would never hurt him again. He had stood up to them, and they had bested them together. Yet, if he could not overcome what had happened between he and his mother, Prue knew that she would still lose him, and that thought brought even more terror to her than she'd felt when facing her own death at the paws of her true love's mother.

"Brendan?" she asked softly, arriving before him. His whimpering, which she'd been hearing ten feet away, finally paused.

"Leave me," he whispered chokingly, and Prue's heart was torn asunder.

"I'm not going to," she told him, taking another step closer but pausing when she saw how he tried to back up even further against the wall when there was no space left.

"Please, Prue!" he whimpered. "I'll only hurt you! I'll kill you too! Leave me! For your own sake, please, leave me!" Tears streamed out from behind his bloodied hands, and Prue cried more to see him hurting so terribly.

"I'm not going anywhere," she repeated again, her calm voice intending to be soothing. "I'm staying right here with you, where I belong and where I want to be! I love you!"

"Go," Cole whispered, his own voice breaking as he watched the exchange between Brendan and Prue. "Get Ola."

Leo nodded and orbed out, still clutching Phoebe close to his chest. Piper slipped into Cole's arms and hugged him tightly. Her head burrowed partially into his muscular chest, but she continued to gaze sadly at her sister and her love. What Brendan's family had done to him was horrible beyond words, and yet they all knew, from watching him, that it wasn't his family that Brendan was hating now but himself.

"You don't love me," Brendan whimpered, more tears flooding down his sorrowful face. "You can't love me! I'm a moooooooooonster!" His whimpering voice broke into a howl.

"But I do love you, Brendan!" Prue stated, gently touching his hand. "I always have, and I always will!"

Brendan snatched away from her, and Prue recoiled in shock, her own heart hurting a thousand fold from his rejection. She stared at him, her tears blurring her vision of the man she loved but found she no longer understood. "Brendan?" she whispered.

"Just leave me!" he growled, his yellow eyes flashing furiously up at her. "Leave me before I kill you too!"

Part of her knew she should do just as he was telling her to do. She should take her family and get away from him for she could see his fangs peeking out from behind his bloodied lips as he snarled the words at her. He could lose the fragile control he held over his beast at any second and hurt her and her family, possibly even do worse, but she wasn't going anywhere. She loved this man. She loved Brendan, both his man and his Werewolf forms, and she would be there for him, no matter what happened! She stood her ground as she told him again, "I love you too!"

**To Be Continued . . . **


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

She felt no movement but yet sensed his presence a split second of a heartbeat before his deep voice spoke next to her ear. "I came as quickly as I could."

She turned to face him, her pretty, painted mouth turned up into a smile despite the dire circumstances that had taken event that night. "Thank you, Mick. I knew you would. I can always count on you."

He nodded, accepting her words as the truth they were, as he turned his cool gaze out to the cafeteria room of people still trembling in the aftermath of a Supernatural battle. His calculating gaze noted the debris of fur, blood, bones, and guts scattering across the floor, and he was already beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together before asking, "What happened here?"

Ola's slender shoulders lifted into a seemingly casual shrug. "A pack of rabid, wild dogs broke into the hospital. They killed several policemen outside, and the people managed to be corralled here while running from them. An ex-soldier took them down."

He glanced at her, recognizing the unspoken truth of the situation that had happened. "Does that former soldier have a name?"

"Not as far as the press is concerned, of course," she said, "but you know him as Cole Turner."

Mick nodded, and then his upper lip curled back. "Why," he demanded suddenly, his eyes flashing darker, "did you invite him?"

Before Ola could answer, the new arrival strode boldly forward, took her hand, and kissed it while his eyes remained locked with the Detective's. "Ah shante, Doctor LaBelle, we meet again," the blonde spoke smoothly, though all three knew that his words were not truly intended to please her but rather to annoy the person standing beside her.

Ola smiled as she calmly withdrew her hand. "Thank you for coming, Josef."

"Always," the man called Josef answered, flashing both Ola and Mick a huge, fang-filled grin. "I always come when a friend calls so seductively."

Ola almost blushed, but then she was used to such flattery. The Faerie blood coursing through her veins gave her an appearance that sent almost all males tripping over themselves, and flirtations were as much of a normal day occurrence to her as brushing her teeth - or picking up the broken hearts after a Supernatural battle, as she was doing yet again this important night.

Josef's primal eyes narrowed onto her pretty face as he cut to the chase. "What can I do for you tonight, Doctor LaBelle?"

"These people," she whispered, waving her hands out at the gathered humans, "need to understand that it was rabid dogs that attacked them here tonight, nothing more or less."

"No sooner said," Josef announced, clapping his hands to signal his people to come swooping into the room, "than done." He grinned as his men and women alike advanced onto the mortals. "Although one could say that you owed me for this little favor."

Her blue eyes looked directly up into his yellowed orbs. She held her head with pride and bravery as she returned, "It is you who are seeking to assuage the balance with our mutual friend, Kyna Chan, unless, of course, I need to make a call to Miss Chan?"

"Never," Josef was quick to assure. He swept away from them before she could mention the Immortal Sorceress again and turned his attention to the business at hand. He grinned as he walked away. Playing with mortal's unguarded minds was always such fun, and he could tell that Mick was nearly eating his tongue in his fury at finding him here. He looked over his shoulder at the dark-haired Vampire and called, "Are you helping or not?" He grinned as Mick snarled, winked, and turned back away to face the task of changing the first mortal's mind.

"So why did you need me?" Mick questioned.

"For a number of reasons, darling," Ola replied, her gentle, lilting voice both reassuring and calming. She turned to face him. "For one, I need some one here who I can trust to keep these boys and girls in line. You fit that bill perfectly, as hardly any other person does. Besides, and for two, I know that you two need to talk."

Mick bristled. "I have nothing to say to him." His fangs flashed.

Ola smiled knowingly. "Ah, but you do, and I also will be requiring assistance to scatter these parts. As you are well aware, mon ami, Werewolves do have that rather disturbing tendency to pull themselves back together. Mister Turner is adept at such tasks, but we have a good number of parts to scatter across the world before tomorrow night's full moon."

He turned from her, surveying the decapitated Werewolf body parts with a mixture of emotions toiling in his dark eyes. "So there was no saving these?"

"Only one of their pack," Ola replied with true regret in her voice.

He sniffed. "They smell familiar."

The right corner of her smiling, ruby red lips twisted in amusement. "They smell like wet dog," she acknowledged and knew that she had said the right thing when she watched the mirth dancing in his eyes with secret delight. Then, with solemnness, she advised, "They were the Richards clan."

The smile and amusement on the Vampire Detective's face instantly washed away. "What about Brendan?"

"He is a case," Ola answered with worry and sadness clouding her baby blue eyes and etching her voice, "on which I am still working."

"But he's alive?"

"Oui," she answered, "and as long as he lives, there is hope."

"Ola!" Mick and Ola whirled around as Leo's voice called from directly behind them. "Brendan needs you."

She had no time to answer as the far doors of the hospital cafeteria came crashing down. Everybody turned to look as the police, with Darryl Morris in the lead, finally came rushing into the room. "POLICE! EVERYBODY DOWN!" The mortals hit the ground while Ola, Leo, and the Vampires remained on their feet. Josef's quickly waving hands was the only thing that kept the Vampires from attacking.

Ola strode forward to meet the cops with Mick and Leo, who was still carrying Phoebe, trailing closely behind her. "It is about time you decided to join us, Detective Morris," Ola greeted the head policeman.

Darryl took note of Leo and Phoebe and slid his gun into his holster, barking at his boys to also sheathe their weapons. His brown eyes narrowed at the woman his research had taught him called herself a paranormal psychologist. "Why do I find you at crime scenes so often?"

Ola placed a gentle hand on Mick's arm as she felt him bristling and faced the inquisition with calm eyes and a gentle smile. "For ze same reason," she told him, "zat you find ze Halliwell family at such zings so oft."

Darryl pulled his head back in surprise. "You're one of them?" He looked to Leo for confirmation. "She's one of you?"

Leo nodded as Ola replied, "Oui."

But Darryl's eyes had fallen upon the blood coating Phoebe's leg. The bone no longer showed, and the wound had been healed. Yet he knew from the amount of blood that something bad had clearly happened. "What happened here?"

"A pack of rabid dogs broke into ze hospital."

He gave Ola a dubious look. "That true?"

"Yup," Phoebe spoke up, "sure is." She was still feeling slightly bowled over from everything that had happened so quickly, but she knew that Darryl needed to hear a truth that he could accept from her. "That's where all the fur and stuff came from."

"And it is very important," Ola put in, "zat zose remains be taken to Doctor Tregarde so zat zey can be studied. She is working on a cure for ze rabies, and zis should assist her studies."

Darryl again looked to Phoebe and Leo for confirmation, and once more they nodded.

"Detective Morris, zis is Detective Mick. He and ze others," she waved a delicate hand in the direction of the standing Vampires, the blonde leader of which grinned toothily at the cops until they all swallowed hard, "are here to assist you in cleaning zis mess up."

Darryl continued to eye the woman warily. "And what about you three?"

"We need to be somewhere else," Leo said.

"Yeah, like fifteen minutes ago," Phoebe agreed.

"Your sisters . . . " Darryl mentioned, noting that Prue and Piper were not to be seen. "Are they okay?"

"For now," Leo spoke.

"But," Ola added urgently, "if we do not hurry, Prue's heart will not be."

Darryl gave them all a long, hard look before finally nodding his acceptance. Mick turned to Ola, understanding the direness of the situation before them more so than anybody else in the room could have. He knew that Brendan needed her, just as he himself had once needed her. "Go," he said. "Hurry. I'll take care of things here, make sure that everything's done right."

"Zank you, Mick," Ola said, giving his cheek a quick kiss, and then she raced out of the room. Once outside the cafeteria and well beyond the suspecting visions of the mortals, Leo took Ola's hand and orbed the three of them back to where their family awaited.

Ola took one look at Brendan, shivering, naked, and covered with blood not his own, and slowly shook her head. Prue had been trying to slowly inch closer to him, but he had continued to push himself backwards against the wall, trying desperately to scuttle away from her, until his back was now at a contorted angle and she had stopped trying to get closer to him for fear that he'd hurt himself. "It is not me he needs, mon amis," Ola spoke gently. "It is Prue he needs, and only she and zeir love can save him now." She could only pray that her dear friend could accept the truths he was about to learn.

**To Be Continued . . . **


	10. Chapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

"Brendan," Ola spoke cajolingly as she slowly started to step toward her dear, tortured friend. "Brendan, it's okay," she told him. "It's over now. It's all over. They'll never hurt you or make you do anyzing you do not want to ever again."

He shook his head, the scraggly remains of his shaggy fur coat shaking with the bare movement. "It's not okay," he whimpered, refusing to meet any one's gaze. "It'll never be okay. I killed her!"

"It's not your fault." Prue reached out and touched the nearest spot of him she could reach, but he jerked his foot away instantly. Batting back the tears that welled in her eyes, she recoiled and set back on her heels.

"Prue's right, Brendan," Ola agreed, laying a gentle hand on the anguished Witch's slender shoulder. "You know it's not your fault. We've talked about this many times before."

"But I never killed her before!" he whimpered. "I'm a - I'm a - I'm a - " His voice broke into a despairing howl. " - moooooooonster!"

"Non, you're no monster," Ola spoke gently, shaking her head and causing her long, raven tresses to shimmer down her back. "You're a very sweet man in a very hard, cruel situation in which you never should have been put, but your family caged you. They did all they could to force you to succumb to zeir ways, but you stood your ground. You never did what they wanted of you. You never became that monster, and now you're free. Zey'll never be able to try to force you to be a monster again."

"Because - " he sniffed and whimpered again. "Because I killed her!" His mournful cry echoed through the hospital corridors, and Ola hoped that Mick could keep the police from coming to investigate. She knew that Josef would keep them at bay, but his means were not the style that she liked to deploy. Mick would contain them, however, she knew, and would have help from the Halliwells' friend, Inspector Morris, which was exactly why she had called on her old friend.

"You never harmed her to free yourself. You stopped her from killing Prue." Ola shrugged, trying unsuccessfully to make light of the situation as her baby blue eyes again tried in vain to search out Brendan's big, brown, and tear-filled orbs. "Besides, we all know that she'll rise again with the next full moon."

Prue, Piper, and Phoebe looked in shock at the psychologist, but she only acknowledged Prue's gaze with a simple shake of her head and her lips pursing into a silent, shushing sound. "You know ripping zeir throats out do no stop Werewolves, nor do even explosions halt them. Werewolves are not stopped except zrough fire or a silver bullet blazed into zeir hearts. Neither has happened to your mother. With ze next full moon's light, she will be able to bring her body back together."

As she had been talking, Ola had also been slowly inching closer to the grieving Werewolf. Now she knelt beside his legs and silently gestured for Prue to come closer, which she did. Ola wrapped a hand around Brendan's left hand and slowly peeled it from his face. "Look at me, Brendan. We've been zrough a lot together, little one. We've worked zrough a lot of your Demons. Zis night you had to face zem, but you did not face them alone. You have ze most important saving grace now. You have a woman who loves you and would do anyzing for you."

"But - But I'll eat her!" He trembled, and the hearts of all who watched broke a little more in their compassion for this brave and gentle beast.

"Non, you won't," Ola said, shaking her head again. "We've been zrough zat too, dear boy. You're not going to eat her."

"B-b-bu-but if - if my wolf gets out of control . . . "

Prue could stand it no longer. Watching her love in such turmoil was causing her to ache with a pain beyond anything she'd ever known, and every inch of her heart, soul, and very essence cried out to comfort him by whatever means she could. His tail flopped on the floor, and she reached out and took it in her hands. Her simple action so shocked him that he at last looked at her, and time stood still for the lovers as their teary eyes locked with one another.

Brendan's ears twitched as shivers of delight from the way Prue stroked his fur, always careful to keep her gentle touches running with his fur and never against, and they heard Ola's gentle voice as though she called from a great distance from them instead of right beside them. "Your mother would have killed Prue tonight if you had not intervened. You stopped her. You did ze only thing you could to save Prue from your mother. Prue lives because of you, because you loved her so much zat at long last you dared to stand up to your family, to your mother, and do what you had never done before. You not only protected an innocent from your family tonight; you saved the woman you love from them, from your mother's jaws, from certain death."

"Brendan," Ola continued, her accented voice gentle and lilting, "if you had not stopped your mother tonight, she would have killed Prue. She would have killed your soul mate, and in so doing, she would have left ze world wide open for being destroyed. You see, mon ami, Prue is no ordinary Witch. She is one of ze legendary Charmed Ones. You've heard me speak of them before. Zeirs is ze ultimate power of good zat has saved this world and all who live in it many times over. Wizout the Power of Zree, all would have been lost long ago."

"Prue has accepted you for what you are. You do not scare her any more zan you scare myself. You only scare yourself, and it is time zat we not only face zat fear but overcome it. Look into ze eyes of ze woman you love, Brendan, and know, my brother, zat she is far more zan powerful enough to protect herself against your Werewolf should it ever come to zat zough it need not. Do you remember ze legend I told you once before, Brendan, of ze ring zat was crafted in love to keep any Werebeing who wears it from changing unwillingly?"

He nodded slowly as he continued to gaze into the trusting, soulful eyes of the woman he loved. Their heartbeats roared within his ears that were slowly returning to normal. They beat one rhythm. He knew they were meant to be together, but yet he also knew that he was a danger to her. He could never live with himself if something happened to Prue, and though she was a Charmed One, he knew the evil that lurked within him would not be stopped by that or anything else should it decide it wanted to eat her. A lupine question formed in the back of his throat as Ola spoke of the ring, and he wondered why she brought that enchanted object of his dreams up into the conversation. It was a legend, but it was a legend that had been searched for for millennia and would never be found, let alone worn by the likes of him.

"True love is ze most powerful force in all of existence," Ola continued. "It can build mountains out of ze tiniest of molehills, or destroy ze greatest of civilizations. It alone can outlast any other power known to any living being. It makes the most impossible things possible, and with true love, anything can be achieved. It was through the tears and trials of true love zat zat ring was forged, and it is true love zat has brought ze two of you together, true love that was prophesied to end your curse and complete ze Halliwell family which is ze singularly most Supernaturally powerful family in all ze annals of history and foretold futures."

"And ze ring," Ola said, slipping a golden, sparkling band from her pocket, "can only work if it is placed upon ze finger of ze Werecreature destined to wear it by his or her true love. Prue," Ola queried knowingly, "you love Brendan, do you not?"

Prue nodded. "With all my heart," she professed solemnly, and Ola placed the ring inside her upturned palm.

"Zen, with mon blessing, I give you ze Ring of Freedom." She turned back to look at Brendan. "Brendan, zis is what we've been waiting for all zese years. Now, at last, you'll be free, and zough your mother is far from dead, your pack will never endanger you or force you to do anyzing you do not wish to do ever again." She rose and walked backwards to stand with the rest of the Halliwell family.

Cole and Leo held their own loves close as the sisters cried. The couples hugged each other tightly, though their questing gazes remained on Prue and Brendan. "Is it real?" Piper whispered so softly that only Cole could hear her.

He nodded, his chin bobbing against the top of her raven-tressed head. "Yes," he whispered in return. "I'm sorry it took me a little while to get to you earlier, love. I was helping Ola retrieve it."

And he had done so, Piper knew, to make her sister happy, not because he was overly concerned with Brendan and Prue but rather because he knew that her sister's happiness meant even more to her than her own happiness. Piper nodded, beamed proudly, leaned up on her tip toes, and kissed him gently. "Thank you," she said.

He stroked her beautiful face tenderly in his adoring hands. "I love you!" he told her quietly, not wanting to interrupt Brendan and Prue's life-changing moment.

"I love you too!" Piper whispered back and kissed him again before turning her gaze back to her sister and her man.

"Is it possible?" Phoebe whispered urgently to Leo and was relieved when he nodded.

"I've never heard Ola tell a lie," he told her, "and she's dedicated her entire life to finding this ring after learning of its existence. Honestly, I wasn't sure it still existed until now, but if she says it is, it is."

Phoebe quirked an eyebrow at Leo. "You sound like you like Ola a lot. Should I be jealous?" she teased.

"Never," he told her, caressing her soft, brown hair. "I have eyes only for you, but Ola is the foremost expert in calming monsters. Her brother was a Werewolf," he whispered to her, "who killed himself when he accidentally killed their mother. Ola's been searching for a cure and doing all she can to help the Weres ever since. Brendan's kind of a . . . special project for her. She told me once that he reminds her of her brother."

"He's been through a lot too, hasn't he?"

Leo's eyes misted over as he thought of all he had learned of Brendan's past after researching the man when he'd found out that he was a Werewolf. He had been convinced that he would be a danger to the sisters but had learned, just as Ola and Cole had, that Brendan was the only one who could ever complete Prue and make the eldest Halliwell whole. "More than you can imagine," he whispered.

"That's okay," Phoebe said, shimmying in Leo's arms until she made his eyes twinkle again. She grinned up at him. "We Halliwell sisters have a way of saving our men." She kissed him then, deeply and passionately, before turning back to her sister and her soul mate. Finally, she thought, finally they were all going to be happy with the men their hearts and souls had chosen and the loves they deserved! At long last, they were all going to get their happily ever after endings! Life wasn't a fairy tale, she knew, but it didn't mean that the best aspect of all the fairy tales, that of true love, couldn't be theirs. Her grin grew. Indeed it was.

"Brendan," Prue was speaking, "I can't even imagine a life like yours, all the heartache and pain that those monsters who are your family put your through, but it doesn't have to be that way any more. I love you! I want to be with you forever, and I'm not scared of your wolf! Like Ola said, I can handle anything he dishes out, but what I really want to handle, for now and for forever, is you!"

She was holding his hands in hers, and now she let go of one of those hands. "I know you're scared. I know you're hurting, and I know you blame yourself. But you not only saved me tonight. I know you think that I wouldn't have been put in this danger if not for you, but you saved me when we first met. I was lonely even despite all of my family. I was empty inside, searching for what I didn't know, until I met you. You complete me! You save and make me whole!"

"Please don't run from me ever again, because if you do, you'll be putting me back in that dark place!" She shook her head. "I know I'm strong. Being a Halliwell, a Charmed One, makes me that way. But that's one pain I don't think I could deal with again. I love you, and I never want to lose you!"

She slipped the ring onto his finger, and Brendan trembled as the traces of his wolf began to slip back into hiding, returning his body to his full mortal form. Even as he changed, Prue leaned up and kissed him. She felt his tremblings and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly and keeping his lips covered with her own. Gently, timidly, her tongue slipped from her mouth to delve into his, and she tasted of the sweet mouth and salty tears of the man she loved.

She kept kissing him, her heartbeat pounding in fear that he might yet turn away from her. She couldn't blame him if he did for she knew he'd been through Hell and back and blamed himself for his own family's destruction, though, from everything she'd heard and all the pieces she'd not heard but had been able to put together for herself, they were to blame for all the horrors her poor baby had suffered. She'd protect him from here on out, though, she swore. The ring would keep him safe from changing, and she herself would make sure he never suffered another hardship again for as long as they lived!

Slowly, ever so slowly, as Brendan gradually realized that his Werewolf was not leaping out to play and that the golden, glowing ring was truly working, he began to kiss his beloved soul mate back. His world had been a dark and bloody Hell before her light had entered it. Ola and the one other friend they shared, the Sorceress who had originally broken him free from the imprisonment in which his family had placed him, had pierced that darkness with their caring lights and kind hearts but never once chased it away. It had always been there, clawing at him, making him tremble within the cage that was his own body, and terrifying him constantly, but now at last, at long, long last, he was free and could love the woman of his dreams, the woman whose love he knew he could never possibly deserve though he'd never stop trying to earn it every moment of each and every day!

He gathered her close to his chest, their hearts pounding together in the powerful rhythm of true love, and slowly lifted Prue up. He stood with her before all the eyes of those who watched them and cared for them both. Ola clasped her hands together in glee, her baby blue eyes swelling to overflowing with tears of pure joy. Cole and Piper and Leo and Phoebe pulled even closer together and kissed in celebration, and then Brendan whirled his lady love around and at last lifted her from his lips to howl in joy. "I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE YOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU, !" he trumpeted with all the happiness and love that shouted throughout every fiber of his being, and still his Werewolf did not threaten to burst free.

He was free at long last, he realized, truly free, and he had this wonderful, remarkable, and extraordinary woman to thank not only for controlling his beast and freeing him but for loving him and filling his life, heart, and soul with goodness, joy, light, and, most of all, love! "I LOVE YOU!" he shouted again, and then he brought her down to his lips and kissed her again and again. With each sweetly and heatedly passionate kiss, he proclaimed his love to her, and he vowed then and there that his life, which now had new meaning, would forever be dedicated to keeping her safe and happy and reminding her always, every second of every moment of every day and night, how infinitely much he loved her alone and always would for all eternity and infinitely beyond!

Ola wiped the tears from her eyes, but more fell. Her pointed ears heard the howl of the Werewolf who was no longer with her in person, and she bowed her head and said a prayer of thanks. No wedding had ever been more beautiful than the joining of two hearts she had just witnessed, and she knew that soon she would be attending a triple wedding. She'd be there, and she'd continued to be there for not only her dear friend, Brendan, but for all of his rightful, destined family as long as she breathed. She wrapped her arms around herself and hugged herself slightly as the loving couples celebrated their true love all around her. The ring of love was complete at last, she thought, smiling from ear to ear, and the Charmed Ones', Brendan's, Cole's, and Leo's destinies and deserved happiness were at long last fulfilled.

She turned and walked away, her blue eyes and heart sparkling with the laughter, kisses, and joyful shouts that echoed through the hospital. Then a quiet voice started to call her name. "Doctor LaBelle? Doctor LaBelle? Excuse me, Doctor LaBelle?"

Ola turned and met the newcomer, saw the goodness and desperation in her eyes, and nodded. "Oui, Felicia. I will help you." Though completed for one family, the ring of love was beginning again, and she would see it through to the end again and every time thereafter for the whole world deserved a happily ever after.

**To Be Continued . . . **


	11. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

When the full moon rose high into the sky the following night and Brendan did not appear as promised on her doorstep, Prue did not hesitate. She knew where she would find the man she loved and took immediate leave of her sisters, driving through town at a rate that could have gotten her arrested had any cop caught wind of her. She pulled up short before his apartment building and zipped into the first available space.

Jumping from her car, she stood and raised her green eyes slowly up to the window she knew to be his. Why had he not come for her? Was he still afraid? That's what she had thought at first, but now that she was getting close to her beloved, her mind was beginning to come up with far worse situations. What if Cole, Leo, and their helpers had only thought they'd gotten rid of all of the Werewolf parts? What if one of the mangy beasts had pulled themselves back together and gone after her sweet, sweet love? What if another member of his pack had not shown up last night and had instead learned what had happened to the others and came after her beloved Brendan when he was alone?

Prue squared her shoulders, her green eyes flashing as she pulled her purse strap up over her slender shoulder and started walking toward the building. Whatever the case, if any one was bothering her man, she'd make them eat her telekinesis! Brendan had been through far too much, and she would never let anything, or one, else hurt him ever again. No matter the cost, she would keep him safe, and she would help him to learn that he could finally be free, happy, and safe without endangering those about whom he cared.

Brendan had the biggest heart of any man she'd ever known, Prue reflected as she waited impatiently for the elevator to take her to his floor. He had finally told her the entire truth of his past last night after she'd taken him to her home, or, at least, what Prue thought to be his entire past. She could only hope that his family or the bitch to whom they'd sold him had not done something even worse than all that he had confessed to her last night.

Brendan's family stretched back through the ages, to the very first Werewolf to gladly accept his fate and feed on the human scum, as his family called the mortals. Ever since that one, they had been evil until Brendan had been born. He was an anomaly amongst his people for he did not want to eat any living being, though he did succumb to cow, chicken, and pig meat already prepared.

His family had done everything they could to turn him. They had forced him to starve, refusing him any other food save human meat, and Brendan had snuck grass and bugs to stay alive. On the one occasion he'd dared to make a friend at school, his own siblings had invited that friend and his family to dinner - where upon the poor, unsuspecting humans had been served up as the main course, and when he'd tried to have a pet, he'd awaken one morning to find the little fish's skeleton in his mouth and his father's ugly face, twisted and contorted not just by his lupine nature but also by his hatred for his own son, looming over him.

It had taken Brendan years to stop blaming himself for eating that one, tiny fish. He had told Prue himself of how Ola had tried to convince him that he wasn't to blame for the poor animal's death, that his father had most likely simply killed and eaten the fish himself and then slipped his bones into Brendan's mouth while he slept. Brendan still believed he had eaten the fish, though he had admitted that he thought his father might have put his little friend flopping into his mouth while he snoozed.

Prue had listened to all of his stories last night, and her heart had broke time and again as Brendan had revealed to her a new horror that his family had done to him. They had even sold him into slavery to an evil Sorceress when they had finally stopped trying to convert him, and it had been from that Helvira character that Ola and one of her friends, another Sorceress by the name of Kyna Chan, had rescued him. Prue had looked Helvira up in her family's Book of Shadows after Brendan had left, and she'd been making plans on how to destroy that evil bitch ever since.

She couldn't understand how any one could be so evil, vile, and heartless as to torture their own child throughout all the years they had had him just because he wouldn't eat what they thought he should eat. She couldn't imagine growing up never once knowing love and only hatred and anger. She had never understood what it meant to be an outcast until she and her sisters had inherited their powers, and even as a Witch, she still didn't know what it was like to not fit into one's family to the point that all your relations hated you and yet to be also both feared by and afraid of being around the outside world.

It was a wonder, Prue thought sadly, that her beloved Brendan had any kind of capably thinking brain left to him, and yet throughout all the terrors through which he had struggled to survive, he had maintained his good heart and, for the most part, his innocent soul. He possessed one of the smartest brains that she knew and had dedicated that mind to learning how to save the very humans his family had tried for so long to force him to eat. He blamed himself for a few deaths, and Prue knew that that burden would never lighten upon his strong but caring shoulders even if he lived to save the entire world.

She knew he'd saved dozens, probably hundreds of people, and had told him so herself last night. Yet he'd only hung his bushy head and cried as he had explained to her that no matter how many he saved, it could never be enough. He could never make up for those lives that had been taken because of him for he couldn't go back in time and save them, and no matter how many humans he saved, the lives he saved could never even begin to amount to the millions, probably zillions, he'd admitted to her with a soft whimper, that his family had devoured over the millennia.

It was up to him, he'd told her, to do whatever could be done to make up to the world in even the tiniest bit for all the evils that the Richards Werewolf clan had committed, and Prue had taken his hands in hers, hugged him close, and reminded him that he was no longer alone and never would be. They had stayed together, just hugging, caressing, kissing, and holding each other, until the sun had began to rise, and Brendan had regretfully told her he had to take his leave and get back to the hospital.

Against her better sense, Prue had let him go. She'd wanted to keep him with her. After learning of why he was so scared to be anywhere close to her or to any one else, for that matter, though especially to her as it was to her his heart belonged, Prue didn't want him going anywhere where she could not watch over and protect him. However, she'd let him go, making him tell her that he'd come to her when he got off work and knowing that she could not keep him in the bubble of her loving protection no matter how desperately she wanted to protect him every minute of every day and night forever.

She'd kept herself busy all day, taking photographs for her freelance jobs, helping out at P3, and vanquishing yet another Demon, but when night had come and her love had not shown up, Prue's worries had come screeching home. Now she stood before his door, her hand resting on his knob, and she wondered why he'd not come home to her and hoped that her instincts that were telling her he was here were right. She tried to open the door but found it locked. She quickly undid the lock with her telekinesis, but still it wouldn't open.

"Brendan?" she called. "BRENDAN?"

"Prue?" she heard a faint voice call from the other side of the door.

She wanted to bust the door down immediately, but instead she laid her head against its wooden frame and projected her astral form inside his apartment. She turned around and, not yet seeing him, turned her attention back to the door. It was lined with what must have been at least twenty locks, and she nearly ripped every one of them telekinetically off of the door before returning to herself.

The door swung open, and Prue almost fell into Brendan's apartment. She caught herself at the last moment, shook off the slight dizziness that usually accompanied her astral projection, and called out again. "Brendan?" Her green eyes cast anxious glances around his apartment as she looked around for him.

"Prue?" His voice was still faint but a little louder now.

She raced after him and found him chained against the wall in his bedroom. Her first instinct was to demand who had imprisoned him and rip them limb from limb with her bare hands, but as she took him in, Prue realized the truth. He hung limply in the chains, his muscular body glistening in the silver glow of the moon sneaking into his bedroom. His body was sheer perfection and made Prue's breath catch in her throat even as she noted, with relieved gladness, that there was no sign of blood, scratches, or bruises on the man she loved. His handsome face was darkened by his deep blush, and his brown eyes peeked cautiously out at her from underneath his shaggy, brown bangs. Yet, upon his face was an enthusiastic and embarrassed smile that made Prue's heart leap for joy.

"You didn't think it was going to work," she remarked.

"No," he said with a sheepish grin and shrug. "I hoped it was," he assured her, "but I couldn't take the risk that it wouldn't. I can't bare the thought of hurting you! I love you!" Now that he could at long last tell her the truth without being afraid for her life, Brendan found that he couldn't possibly say those three little words that said so much about the incredible way she made him feel and the fact that he wanted her with him for always and forever enough. He wanted to shout them at the top of his lungs; he wanted to howl them out for all the world to hear!

"You're not going to hurt me," Prue told him confidently, grinning from ear to ear, "and I love you too, Brendan!"

Her eyes drifted to his strong, erect manhood begging for her attention between his tanned legs, and his blush deepened. "Hum, the key's - " he started to say, but she interrupted him.

"Who needs a key?" Prue questioned as she walked over to him. She didn't try to sway seductively as she had done on purpose to attract guys in the past, but her every movement, even her natural walk, was utterly seductive to Brendan. He loved the way she walked and could watch her move forever. He loved the way she smelled, and her delicious scent played an intoxicating game with his nose. He loved everything about this woman, and the predator within him surged with need. He pushed it down, but then it howled through his entire being as Prue caught his head in her hands and pressed her lips firmly down against his.

He moaned and then whimpered with gladness against her heated mouth, and when his lips broke with his whimper of passion, she slipped her tongue into his mouth. Her hands caressed his stubbled cheeks, her fingers reaching up and finding his ears. The pads of her fingertips massaged the inner canals of his ears, and Brendan's tail protruded out from his bare rear end. He pressed against her, though he did not mean to do so, and Prue moaned as she leaned into his masculine body.

She wanted this man like she'd never wanted any one before in all her life, and yet she would not take him chained. She would not force herself on him, only make it completely clear to him that she was ready whenever he was and keep him free for all eternity. His chains fell away from him at the commands of her telekinesis, and Brendan wrapped his arms around Prue, pulling her even closer and slipping his tongue into her mouth. Their moans grew louder, cojoining into a beautiful serenade, as their tongues and bodies rubbed wildly against one another. Her tongue found the deepest contours of his mouth and the fangs that were always hiding therein, and she played a game of hide and seek with him.

Their hearts were pounding in his pointed ears like drums foretelling the climax of all times, though it had just been the day before that Brendan would have thought the same sound was foretelling his beloved Prue's death. He wanted her with a burning need stronger than anything he'd ever felt before in all his life, and yet he knew this was wrong. He could not take her like this. He had to court her. He had to make a lady of her. He had to marry her, and then they could consummate their love.

He forced himself to calm and push her away. He shoved against her with more strength than he'd intended, but Prue quickly regained her balance. When she blinked up at him in surprise, she found that he was no longer standing but instead now kneeled before her. He'd retrieved a box from somewhere so fast that she'd not even seen him move, and now he crouched before her, completely human save for the long, bushy tail standing erect behind him. Prue wondered if he even knew his tail had come out to play and had to hide her giggle for she feared the realization that part of his wolf would out would make Brendan afraid. His tail, she'd come to learn, however, was as much a part of his body as her own hair or breasts were to her own.

She gazed down into his eyes, her smile curving her lips with both mischief and joy, and her eyes sparkled. "Brendan," she asked, "what are you doing down on the floor, love?"

And he grinned up at her, popped the box open, and asked as she gasped at the diamond that twinkled up at her, "Asking you to marry me. Prue," he said, "I know I don't deserve you. I could never deserve you, but I love you with all my heart, soul, and being! I always have and always will! Only you will ever complete me, and you've freed me at long last! Now, finally, I can be with you and love you like a man and as you deserve! Will you do me the greatest honor in all of eternity? Will you marry me? Will you be my wife, my mate?"

She squealed her happiness as she threw herself into his waiting arms and nearly knocked them both to the floor. "Yes! Yes! YES!" she cried and covered him with kisses.

He rolled her onto her back, their chests heaving from the joy and passion surging throughout their veins, took her hand in his, and slipped his ring onto her finger. There, in the cascading light of the first full moon Brendan had ever lived freely under without fear, threat, danger, or sadness, the newly engaged soul mates took each other in their arms again. Brendan wouldn't make love to his beloved Prue until they were happily wed, but that didn't stop them from kissing. They kissed long into the night, wrapped in the light of the silver moon that was the first one Brendan had ever enjoyed and in the warm explosions of their love that would light their way and keep them together, happy and safe, forever after, and sometime during that full moon night, their voices raised together in one joyful howl as they shouted out their hearts' truest meanings. "I LOOOOOOOVVVVEEEE YYOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

**The End**


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